popping in

Wanted to pop in real quick and let you all know that we are heading to see John's parents tomorrow. We should be back this weekend, although I am trying to think of a way to get his mom to come back with us for a visit! She can't leave until after church on Sunday though (she is a pianist there and the other pianist will be gone) and John doesn't think it is a good idea to not get home until late Sunday simply because the person that is taking care of our farm can't do so after Friday. We may come up with something... The pups are coming with us - I am actually looking forward to having them with us, I miss them when we are gone without them. Which is....all the time! As they haven't been on a trip with us in the almost 2 years we have had them. A kennel is loaded in the back of the Expedition, taking up about 70% of the room --- !!!! Yikes! I am going to have to pack light and for those that know how I pack....it's not light! I always pack too much. I have made a list though and am sticking to it. I have started packing, but I had to come downstairs to check the weather and thought I better blog now before I run out of time. Today Asher had his 6 year checkup. He is 52 lbs and 48.5 inches tall. That's around 90th percentile for height and I think he said 70th for weight, just fine doc says! He still has this lingering cough that has been going on for a good 4 weeks, although never any fever. He had been checked a few weeks ago, and was on the antibiotics, same as Allie and John, but it didn't kick it. We did another chest x-ray and thankfully it came back negative, so the crackling the doctor is hearing in his chest he thinks is trapped mucus or something gross due to asthma, which the doc has suspected he has. Ash is already set up to get a blood draw for allergy testing a week from today at our ENT doc. He will start Singulair tonight, and hopefully he won't have any side effects from it. The doctor said it makes some kids act mean and crazy. Greeeat. But he said only like 1 in 500. Let's pray Ash isn't that 1. The Singulair won't affect the allergy testing, like Zyrtec would. So for now that is what we will do. Ash has been sneezing and sniffling with a stuffy nose, same as John and I. When we finally left the hospital, I had a couple quick errands to do and then we were off to the birthday party as planned. The kids had fun playing outside in the sandbox, sprinkler, jump thing and more. It was the hottest day yet here, almost 90!, and really muggy. We had to leave by 1:20p though as I had to get the kids home and dropped off and come back into town to go to the eye doctor unexpectedly. My prescription wasn't written properly, and when my new lenses got put in my frames today, I was like Whoa, something's not right here - and my prescription supposedly was the same as when I was in before. Sure enough, come to find out, the slight astigmitism that I have had in my left eye since 2006 wasn't written on the prescription! So my whole depth perception was off. Thankfully I have a spare pair of glasses that I didn't have new lenses for (they aren't scratched like the one pair!) so I will wear those while the Vision Center corrects the issue. We had kept my old lenses, but since I have a back up pair I said forget it, I will just wear those. John released the 8 baby chicks in with the regular hens yesterday. They are about 4-5 weeks old and pretty feathered out. I haven't even had their heat on in the brooder for over a week. The older hens seem to be fine with them in there. Alright, I think that's about it! Off to do more packing! We are so excited and ready to see Larry and Judy, and John's brother Jason and his new wife Melissa - they just got married last Thursday (Asher's birthday). She has a little boy named Aiden that is 3 that we have also heard much about, I am sure our kids will have fun playing with their new cousin! John hasn't been back to visit his parents since March of last year. I am glad he is coming with us. There is much to do on the farm, and he'll be the first to admit that, but what he doesn't always admit to is missing his family! ;)